Tony Blair gives big religion talk

Next week Tony Blair (pictured) will deliver a grandstanding lecture on "Faith and Globalisation" at Yale University – a further attempt by the former PM turned Middle East peacekeeper to fulfill his messianic dream of uniting all religious faiths towards a common purpose.

And he's certainly leaving nothing to chance on that front. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which he set up on leaving office in 2007, has sent out a survey to students at Yale asking them to answer 59 questions about faith and religion prior to his talk, which will be his second this semester.

"He [Blair] is personally deeply concerned to explore some of the key issues around this subject," says the accompanying letter. "In particular, he hopes to gather some fresh data on issues around religion - and spirituality, membership of religious groups and religion and modernity."

While this ecumenical approach embraces everyone and everything, Blair, who like Indira Ghandi and Alastair Cooke before him is the Howland Distinguished Fellow at Yale, has a rather more exclusive approach as to who should get to hear his words of wisdom. Tickets to the event, reports the London Evening Standard, are only available to members of the Yale community who hold a valid Yale ID. ·